One's Insightful Musings

A short story I am working on.

She is a curious girl who questions authority. Years from now, she will recall the days of her early youth where her never-ending questions of ‘what’ and ‘why’ always end with Mother’s stern look accompanying silent judgement. Father always looking away and staring into the distance. Something he does a great deal of during throughout taut marriage. At the tender age of six, this unsettling experience will set the tone for the rest of the child's constricted life.

Seated quietly in the backseat of the family’s silver 2014 Toyota Corolla, the child poses straight against the seat, her short legs fusing together, dangling just above the smooth, carpeted floor, hands flat on her lap.

Father keeps his focus on the road as the neighborhood trees sweep by in the windows. Mother sits in the front passenger seat. Eyes closed, mumbling to herself. The child can faintly hear words like “Saintly Earth” and “giving us strength.”

The child then makes a mistake, breaking the quiet. “Mother, why does a planet need to be worshipped?”

The parental units tense, bodies rigid in their seats. Staring straight ahead, faces blank, mouths unmoving. “Are you questioning the faith?” Mother calmly responds.

Cold, hard eyes now stare piercingly through the rearview mirror, sending shivers down the child’s spine.

“N-No,” the child stuttered and quickly looked down. But Mother was not done. “And what else?”

The child looked to Father, eyes pleading for the mercy of an intervention. Instead, he continues to drive, his only focus is the road. Stoic yet indifferent. The child sags her shoulders, closes her eyes, and obediently recites the phrase taught to her tediously over previous weeks.

“The Divined Goddess, Her Holiness Supreme, Our Protector, Our Savior, blessed is she, therefore are we.”

Mother nods in approval, slowly smiling in that way that always makes the child uneasy, looking at the road once again. All three sit in that claustrophobic car as the overgrown mossy temple rises into view.

Suddenly, that heavy feeling emerges in the child’s chest again. One she has felt before and will become very familiar to her… fear.

So, I have been thinking about how everyone, including myself, wishes to stay in-the-know, but do not trust new sources. Sadly, “alternative truths,” misinformation, disinformation, etc. is a thing and not going anywhere. So, what if an app was created that allowed for people to choose which news sources to receive information from? This concept would allow for individuals to search for and select specified news sources, instead of pre-selected news stations that severely limits what a person reads?

This app is a combination. The social collaboration of Flipboard, the news postings of Google News, and the privacy of Mastodon. Privacy would be the priority, and no sharing of data is allowed, directly. Open-source and free for all users. Any posts made would generate from a selected news article from a list of categories, and the user would have the option to share within Mastodon or on other social media platforms. The app would allow a person to search for any news stations they wish to follow (worldwide), and the top/trending/breaking news stories for each selected station would load in the feed. No subscriptions will be required as the news links would only be for one article each.

If a user wishes to confirm if the information in a certain article is accurate, then a generative AI tool can be selected for fact-checking by an option within the 'New Post' window. Fact-checking would be accomplished by verifying the originator of the article (editors, staff writers, opinion pieces), accessing and verifying data from publicly available and official sources (census bureau, government reports, international organizations, e.g., WHO)

Users would be allowed to debate with one another, or in a group, with the added option of 'Open Discussion' on every news article within their feed. A new pop-up window would surface, and conversation would begin. To keep the discussion respectful, an AI moderator will automatically activate and scan for inappropriate and harsh language (curse words). Words in all caps, included. When the AI scans such language, the user will be unable to post until they have corrected/deleted.

To combat crashes and slow processing times, the app would have to be modified into a simpler version for mobile devices.

Summary: Private – no tracking, no third-party sharing/advertisements

Collaborative – interact with other users (publicly and privately)

Accurate – generative AI software fact-checks requested news links against other sources, verifies originator, and reports accuracy percentage

Perhaps an idea like this is too intricate for a desktop/mobile app and can be simplified. Maybe instead create a platform that allows people to create their own news articles. Not magazines like Flipboard, but instead. Hmm... perhaps I am overreaching. What I really want is for people to be able to openly and respectfully discuss topics, especially potentially triggering ones, in a public forum. This could show society that we are capable of interacting with one another without reducing ourselves to hurling insults and flinging mud at each other.

Scratch everything. I now know what I want to accomplish. An app that allows everyone to make their own commentary on individual news articles. Instead of people waiting to watch The Daily Show or listening to BenCast for an opinionated summary of what is currently occurring. Instead, this app will allow for average, everyday folks to voice their own thoughts for others to follow and reply to, if desired. Any statements made that are being regarded as fact will be automatically verified by an AI fact-checker.

Scratch all of that. I just want to open an online forum that is free for everyone and allows people to open discuss topics without judgement or hostility.

I have always found it to be incredibly infuriating when people, mainly boomers and gen Xers, complain about millennials. Words like lazy, entitled, spoiled, selfish, know-it-all, et cetera have been plaguing my people for years. As if we somehow created these characteristics. If we are, in fact, lazy, entitled, spoiled, selfish, know-it-alls, then surely someone raised us to be that way. Hmm, I wonder who.

These insults have been tossed around so much that we are now convinced that our generation is the problem with society, and now are swimming in self-loathing. I cannot help but be frustrated by this. We millennials are doing our absolute best to persevere in a time when the odds are stacked against us while ensuring the future of our children. Back off! We have enough on our plate without drowning ourselves in all of societies vices thrown into our faces to help us cope. And millennials, can we stop beating ourselves up? We are actually doing pretty good in the grand scheme of things. Brush that dirt off your shoulder and let the haters hate. That is what they are supposed to do. In the meantime, you do you. And do NOT apologize for it!

It's a novel feeling when you find a ten-dollar bill in your pants pocket that you haven't worn in a year. It's an even better feeling when you stumble upon an old 401(k) from six years ago that's been accumulating wealth.

Don't hate me for bragging.